Modern, medical image generating methods like CT or MRI provide an insight into the soft tissue structures of the knee joint. However, these techniques are mostly used for acquiring still pictures, because they are either not fast enough or not precise enough to guarantee a profound, three-dimensional live observation of deformable human internals. Neither the functionality, nor the shape of the components during fast movements can be acquired that way. The same drawbacks occur when biological structures are dissected. In recent medical literature, the shape, texture and function of almost every part of the human body is described. As these descriptions are either based on dissected material or on those image generating methods, the description of the functionality and interaction, as well as the description of the deformation of the shape during normal operation are mostly qualitative assumptions of the authors, but not quantified or measured facts. In this work, a quantitative measurement is performed for a more profound data acquisition. Opposed to the known, slice wise measurements, a three-dimensional technique is applied that allows new insights into the movement and deformation of the knee joint components. Moreover, most publications consider only one rotational freedom of the knee joint - in most cases the flexion movement. In this work, all three rotational degrees of freedom are considered, providing new insights into the knee joint mechanics. The results of these measurements extend the current knowledge about the human knee joint, which proves the significance of three-dimensional measurements. This measured data is merged to a three-dimensional knee joint model that can display the knee joint internals in any arbitrary posture. This is used to set up an interactive graphical display that allows the user to move a virtual knee joint and observe the movements and deformations of the knee joint internals in real time. This animation can be helpful for improving the understanding of the internal knee joint mechanics and can improve the medical education. «

Modern, medical image generating methods like CT or MRI provide an insight into the soft tissue structures of the knee joint. However, these techniques are mostly used for acquiring still pictures, because they are either not fast enough or not precise enough to guarantee a profound, three-dimensional live observation of deformable human internals. Neither the functionality, nor the shape of the components during fast movements can be acquired that way. The same drawbacks occur when biological s... »